Chapter 8 — I Won't Save You in This Life Again

She stomped her feet on the ground and let out a piercing, shrill scream.

"Argh! Where exactly are you? I can't even find a drop of water, so how do you have watermelon to eat?"

"We are sisters born of the same roots! Do you really intend to just sit there and watch me starve to death?"

"We are both our father’s daughters! How can you be so selfish!"

I laughed in sheer disbelief, my anger turning into cold amusement. "Was it not selfish of you to poison me to death just for the sake of some man?"

"But I already know I was wrong!"

I exposed her facade immediately. "You do not know you were wrong; you only want to trick me into taking you in!"

"Aghhhhh! What do you want me to do then?"

I shrugged nonchalantly. "Go die." With that, I closed the rift, ignoring her frantic wails, and went back to my work.

My stepsister remained outside, hurling curses. She used every foul word she could conjure. Eventually, truly exhausted, she slumped to the ground, panting heavily. The starving mob finally caught up to them. "Quick, quick! I heard that vixen’s voice! She is right inside this courtyard!" My stepsister’s expression turned deathly pale. She and Zhao Yun Zheng scrambled to their feet, trying to flee, but the outsiders had already kicked the courtyard door off its hinges with a thunderous crash.

"Are you trying to run away with this imperial dog?"

The leader of the starving mob charged forward, grabbed Zhao Yun Zheng by the collar, and interrogated my stepsister. Before she could even open her mouth, Zhao Yun Zheng desperately sought to distance himself from her.

"I did not incite her! She came to find me all on her own!"

"She even told me she had an elder sister, something about a space, some kind of system!"

"I have told you everything I know! I beg you, please do not kill me!"

My stepsister never imagined that Zhao Yun Zheng could be so spineless. He had once been an emperor, yet to save his own skin, he betrayed his own woman without a shred of dignity. The mob, unsurprisingly, tossed Zhao Yun Zheng aside and turned to violently interrogate my stepsister.

"Where is your sister? What does that space system do? Speak!"

A blade was pressed against her neck, slicing her delicate skin until a trail of blood welled up. My stepsister winced in pain. "I... I do not know where she is! I am looking for her myself!" The starving mob did not believe a word of it. They descended upon her, beating her mercilessly. Battered and bruised, she crawled toward Zhao Yun Zheng.

"Your Majesty! Your Majesty, please save me!"

Zhao Yun Zheng, his face twisted with terror, kicked her away with all his might.

"Do not touch me, you jinx!"

Her nose struck the ground, and blood smeared across her face. From then on, she was dragged away by the mob to cultivate their fields. Very soon, she had exhausted her ability to produce anything, and her farming system became a useless, barren relic. Seeing that she no longer held any value, they threw her out of the palace like a pile of refuse. The tyrant Zhao Yun Zheng was tossed out right alongside her.

"Get out! Let us see how you indulge in your debauchery now, and how you continue to oppress the common people!"

The stones beneath the palace gate were searing hot. My stepsister lunged at Zhao Yun Zheng, clawing at him like a madwoman.

"It is all your fault! If you had not told them I possessed the system, I would not have ended up in this state, unable to grow even a single grain of rice!"

Zhao Yun Zheng tried to fend her off, but his face was soon shredded by her fingernails. In a fit of rage, he shoved her hard to the ground.

"You pathetic shrew, I thought you had some talent, but it turns out you are good for nothing!"

Three months later, both of them had become mere vagrants, collapsing by the roadside from starvation.

"Water..."

"Food..."

These were the only words they murmured in their final moments. Meanwhile, I had survived through various spaces, eventually reaching the desert. By then, however, my stores of water and food had piled up like mountains, enough to sustain me for another year. Finally, dark clouds blanketed the horizon; thunder rolled, and torrential rain poured down like a waterfall. The parched fields were drenched, and green sprouts began to emerge from the dry earth. The withered trees found life once more, bursting into vitality. The survivors finally dared to step out of their doors, cheering, holding basins to catch the rainwater. Everyone was singing and dancing in the downpour. As for me, standing in the desert, I drank the last drop of water from my bottle. The scenery shifted instantly, and I found myself back in the Zi Yuan Palace. Pushing open the doors, I saw that the palace had collapsed, with rubble and ruin everywhere. Beyond the palace walls, an orange sunset hung over the skeletal, dried-out trees. A child, sensing something, turned back to look at me, baring his teeth in a bright, eight-toothed smile.

"We survived!"

The people outside the palace gates were cheering. I joined them, shouting at the top of my lungs:

"I survived, too!"

THE END.